Ajay Bhella

Sales Manager - ATA Search

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My background in recruitment

After 15+ years in recruitment (of which 14 have been with ATA), I have a wide range of recruitment skills and expertise within the engineering and manufacturing sector, specifically within senior appointments which gives me a broad perspective when providing my clients with engineering recruitment solutions.

In 2021, we launched ATA Search, our specialist executive search brand, offering a unique level of service to clients looking to attract senior business leaders for both UK and international assignments.

I have been trained and accredited in Thomas International psychometrics where I use my training in aptitude, behaviour, emotion and personality assessments to work with clients when recruiting key leadership roles. I now consider myself an expert in recruiting high-profile positions with key customers on both retained and confidential assignments for UK and international customers.

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I can help you with

My role as a Sales Manager is to listen to my clients, consult and provide them with a solution. As an expert, I assist my customers in understanding behavioural fits, candidate job profiling or working with clients to help them with talent pipeline or attracting talent with wider skillsets over industry experience.

I have a huge passion for working with senior clients to really understand their business, challenges and strategy, and I love playing a part in this. I get a real buzz when I recruit a Director who very quickly has improved the efficiencies, output of a company or turned a company from a loss-making to a profit in a short time.

Aside from supporting my clients with leadership and Director recruitment, I regularly work with ATA’s clients to understand their wider recruitment needs and to match the skillset of ATA accordingly to ensure our clients are fully aware of the full capabilities of our company.

I also love working with senior candidates where I get to learn about lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, engineering strategies, financial management etc. As the knowledge I gain really helps when having those real in-depth conversations with prospective clients.

The best part of my job

I enjoy having in-depth business discussions with clients to understand business/business strategy, financial growth and how I can support them on their journey. I also enjoy discussing how talent can play an integral part in the business achieving goals and objectives, high-level interviews with candidates to understand success and utilising Thomas International to recruit highly-skilled Directors.

I also enjoy working on high-profile hard-to-fill Director and international assignments and helping candidates find their dream jobs whilst helping clients improve/grow their business. It’s the pleasure I get from making a placement but an even bigger buzz when you know your candidate has played an instrumental part in helping the business grow, improve or change.

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What I do when I'm not in the office

I have a passion for Formula 1 and Boxing.

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Testimonials

"In September 2021, we needed to recruit some senior-level positions for the group including Head of Operations, and given the climate at the time with candidates, we knew this would be very challenging.

We approached Ajay at ATA Search to help assist us with the recruitment through a retained search assignment. Ajay was exceptionally thorough when taking the brief and asked a lot of questions to get a very detailed understanding of the position and the company.

Ajay was very professional in his approach and his willingness to work with the Epwin Group was fantastic. We were fully briefed on all candidates and received very detailed information on candidate profiles and CVs as well as an end-to-end managed process.

Ajay succeeded in placing two candidates into the senior roles and as such, he has also gone on to recruit two Managing Directors, two Sales Directors, Operations Director, General Manager, Operation Leaders and many more for all of our Group Companies.

All these positions are key strategic positions that are paving the way for the Group to achieve its growth targets. The Thomas International Psychometric tools offered are also very valuable as they give us a greater insight into the person we are hiring and this has also been managed by Ajay.

I would certainly recommend Ajay to other businesses, especially for those roles that are difficult to fill."

Group Recruitment Manager, Building Materials Manufacturing

"We contacted Ajay to assist us with the recruitment of several General Manager roles across the UK. These roles are critical to the success of our business and are highly autonomous.

We have an objective to improve our diversity in senior manager roles, with a specific focus on increasing the number of women globally in top management. It was important that our recruitment partner was able to work with us in this regard for the vacant General Manager positions.

Ajay was both professional and enthusiastic throughout the process. He took time to understand the roles and the range of skills and experience we were looking for. He kept us up to date with his retained search progress. He took the time to discuss potential candidates in detail ahead of scheduling interviews and remained engaged with candidates both up to and following their start dates.

Ajay succeeded in placing three candidates into senior roles, including two female candidates. 

We are currently working with Ajay on some marketing collateral to further assist our diversity ambitions. 

I would recommend Ajay to other businesses."

Human Resources Director, Industrial Laundry

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​"I have worked with Ajay for over 6 years and during this time he has successfully recruited engineers and senior professionals for my business. He is a dynamic straight talker and provides a quality of service with a specialism towards the senior and executive market sector. Having successfully recruited our Operations Director and Plant Managers I can unreservedly recommend Ajay. If you are looking for a results driven senior recruiter then contact Ajay."

Geoff Simmonds, Managing Director, E&H Consultancy Ltd

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